Private Lawrence William Chilson was born June 12, 1917 in Ithaca, New York, to Rev. Austin Rogers Chilson and Bertha (Smith) Chilson. Lawrence was the grandson of Harry Chilson, a Civil War veteran, and brother to Richard Warren Chilson, who is also a fallen World War II hero.

Lawrence W. Chilson enlisted in the army on June 10, 1941, in Buffalo, NY. At the time of enlistment he was single, without dependents, stood 64 inches tall, weighed 106 pounds, and had an education level of grammar school. His service number is 32134314. He was assigned to 9th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division.

Lawrence William Chilson died on June 21, 1944 in Normandy and was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

During the Battle of Normandy, the 9th Infantry Division captured 18,490 prisoners between June 10th 1944 and July 1st, 1944. Added to the men were also weapons, food and vehicles. The Division itself had 300 men killed and 1851 men wounded. Reporter Ernie Pyle wrote a great tribute to the men of the 9th Infantry Division:

“The Ninth was good. In the Cherbourg campaign, it performed like a beautiful machine. Its previous battle experience paid off. Not only in individual fighting but in the perfect way the whole organization clicked. The Ninth did something in that campaign that we hadn’t always done in the past. It kept tenaciously on the enemy’s neck. When the Germans would withdraw a little, the Ninth was right on top of them!”

Private Lawrence William Chilson is buried in the Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France, Plot: I, Row: 9, Grave: 34.

References
https://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/wwii/wwii_HonorList/HonorList_C.htm

http://www.wwiimemorial.com/Registry/Search.aspx

http://www.wwiimemorial.com/Registry/Search.aspx

http://www.wwiimemorial.com/Registry/Search.aspx

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/chilson/120/

https://www.fold3.com/page/86012689-lawrence-w-chilson/facts

https://search.ancestryinstitution.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=61667&h=2163770&tid=&pid=&queryId=5fba576fd674cc05bae96756dcb7da96&usePUB=true&_phsrc=zLz101&_phstart=successSource

"This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story."

Lawrence W Chilson